Staring down at his plate, Darcy frowned. One lone sausage he did not recall setting there rolled lazily across the fine porcelain.
Snatching toast, another sausage, and filling a cup with coffee–however weak it may yet prove–he hurried to the table to sit beside his cousin who had planted himself by Miss Mary. Further down the table Lord Brayburn largely ignored his plate of food and them, the paper he read of far greater interest.
“Now then, Darcy, I trust that coffee will see you present enough to hear my question,” Fitz smirked before taking a bite of sausage. “I hoped to ask if you would join Miss Mary and myself on a ride this morning? If not, I imagine Bingley would enjoy it.”
“What would I enjoy?” Bingley questioned as he entered with Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth.
“A ride with myself and Miss Mary,” Fitz answered as he stood. “Perhaps her sisters might join as well?”
“Capital, capital,” Bingley grinned. “Do say you ladies will come.”
“I should enjoy it,” Jane answered brightly.
Turning his attention to Miss Elizabeth, Fitz inclined his head, “And you Miss Elizabeth? Shall you be joining us?”
“I fear riding is not a favourite of mine,” Elizabeth remarked, “though I thank you for asking. Jane and Mary are much better horsewomen than I. Certainly, they enjoy it more. Do not give me that worried look Mary, I am well able to occupy myself for the time you and Jane are gone.”
“Indeed,” Darcy added, his chance to be of use to Miss Elizabeth opened wide. “I recall hearing you are fond of walking, Miss Elizabeth. If you would prefer that to horseback riding, I would happily join you.”
Brows high, Miss Elizabeth nodded, “I am… fond of walking that is. Well then, my sisters have nothing to fear regarding my entertainment. There is nothing for knowing the countryside like a walk.”
Countryside? Of course. He had not supposed a stroll in the garden, but so far from the house they would require a chaperone.Glancing about the room, Darcy frowned as Lord Brayburn proved the only present option.Still, he could withstand his presence for the sake of Miss Elizabeth. Perhaps by the time they were to depart, someone else would see fit to join them and speak with that man for… well, the whole walk if he were fortunate? Unlikely, though far from impossible.
“Lord Brayburn,” he remarked, interrupting the man’s newspaper, “would you care to join Miss Elizabeth and I on a walk?”
∞∞∞
A quarter of an hour later, Miss Elizabeth and the two gentlemen made their way toward a fine grove of oaks, Darcy fortunate enough to have Miss Bennet on his arm, though unfortunate in that no one but Lord Brayburn had joined them.
“You have four sisters, I believe?” Lord Brayburn asked Elizabeth as the shadow of the trees fell over them, Darcy turning his gaze to the man with interest.
Lord Brayburn had begun a polite conversation at breakfast, yet had spoken little besides. His tendency to silence only ended whenever he felt politeness demanded it, leastwise that is how it appeared. If another cause for the man’s sporadic conversation were present, it would not likely be determined by him.
“I do,” Miss Elizabeth smiled. “Jane and Mary, whom you have met, and Catherine and Lydia who were unable to join us.”
“Not a lonely Christmastime for them, I hope?” Darcy interjected as he led her around an old fallen tree, their breath billowing brightly in the cool dark of the grove.
“Doubtless somewhat, as this is the first time we sisters have not all been together for it,” Miss Elizabeth sighed, the grip of her hand on his arm growing firmer, “though Kitty, or Catherine rather, well… she is glad to be at home. Catherine is to be married in the spring to the younger son of a neighboring family and therefore, she and Lydia will be guests at Lucas Lodge more often than they may wish before the season is over.”
“Your sister, Lydia, who does not have the amity of an intended and his family may be more apt to find it wearying than the other,” Lord Brayburn frowned as he wove around a tree. “Where fresh, new love allows everything to please when the object of that affection is near; the absence of it can ache as nothing else can. This time of year, especially.”
Lips thinned, Miss Elizabeth turned a sad gaze toward Lord Brayburn. “True. Though given Lydia is not yet out and that her best friend is of their family and is bound to ever be by Lydia’s side, she, at least, will not feel the ache you speak of. I hope no one in attendance here endures such discomfort.”
“No,” Lord Brayburn answered, his pace halted as he turned toward the way they had come. “I fear I have a deuced of a headache. Forgive me, Miss Elizabeth, I should not have used such language in front of a lady.”
“Of course,” she acknowledged, her brows furrowed as she looked up at Darcy. “I suppose we ought to make our way back then; the garden, though, may yet be worth exploring if you do not mind continuing Mr. Darcy?”
“I would be happy to,” he said, his throat tight and heart darting about as his eyes met hers.
Thus, the three of them returned the way they had come, the thin layer of snow marred only by their footprints and those of deer which had passed by earlier in the day.
Covering the broad expanse between grove and gothic manor, Lord Brayburn gave apology for ending their walk as he had before scurrying into the house, his great coat swaying as he went.
“Well, Miss Elizabeth,” Darcy remarked as the doors closed behind Lord Brayburn, “shall we visit the gardens?”
“I am all curiosity,” she laughed as she took his arm again, the pair making their way around the house toward the main decorative garden. “I realize a garden in December is hardly in possession of rare beauty, however, beside the snow adorning it with glittering white, it ought to be interesting in its own right. From my window I could see an impressive topiary maze. I could not tell from above if it is high enough to prove a challenge or merely decorative… but it did intrigue me.”
Rounding the corner, the question as to the size of the maze would remain no longer. The height of the living walls reached higher than Darcy, and its outer walls continued on and on in such a way as to recall the foundation of the grand house they were guests in.
